Don't you think? I'll stay
ecology?
I was a young 11 year-old Dwayne, Haskins
visiting Ohio State and saying you want to go to college there
and did he ever go to college? Their
Heisman trophy finalist record-setting quarterback at
Ohio State in 2018.
And in more of the world came to know him as a first round
pick of the Washington football team. Now commanders.
And he was of course, working out with the Steelers team
mates, Mitchell, true Biscay
that brought together some of the Steelers down in South,
Florida.
When Dwayne Haskins was tragically struck and killed by
a dump truck
on a
South Florida highway or early Saturday morning and pronounced
dead on the scene,
24 years old, a baby.
He was a baby and that video
a baby
when he left this life and transition into the next.
First and foremost our hearts thoughts and prayers, of
course, go out to
the Haskins. Family, his loved ones, his friends,
his teammates coaches, all the people
who this young man touched and such a very short time. And
I guess that's the thing that's been with me since Saturday
morning Michael is,
is that Dash
that we talked about
1997 to 2022? That Dash this young man
certainly made the most of that Dash when it comes to
Was it wasn't my Angelo people. People don't remember what you
did for them. And they remember how you made them feel.
Yeah,
he made a lot of people feel good. Just through being around
him through his presence.
And
he leaves quite a legacy leaves behind a wife, Calabria, who
recently lost her father
as well.
But everybody, the outpouring this weekend was simply
incredible.
I need you know, you need a not nobody's keeping score or
anything like that.
But you know, we see people pass away. We see people pass
away far too soon,
but I was just
Over. Well, I was overwhelmed by, not just the volume,
but the sentiment and it was consistent across the board.
That this guy was a wonderful young, man, a great person who
people were proud to call their friend proud to call their
teammate, proud to call their brother proud to call their son
proud to call a buckeye.
There were just so many people
that were that were hurt at the laws of this.
Remarkable human being.
And so 24 years old. I mean, we could all just hope that we
leave this life having left, the kind of Legacy and the kind
of impact
that Dwayne Haskins did
in his short time on this planet.
Yeah, yeah, well said just a shocking story, right? You
wake up on a Saturday and you see this breaking news
that Dwayne Haskins.
Is no longer with this. It, you know, so many people talking
about
how hard it is to reconcile how hard it is for them to process,
what happened? Let's just start there. A lot of people saying
that word that were devastated. Mason Rudolph said it,
Mike Tomlin said it as well in a statement. And so did Ryan,
Dave, from Ohio state has so many people, just looking at
this story, a young man who was a few weeks away from his 25th
birthday
and I just been hanging out with his teammates.
To be gone.
I mean, it's just, it's just a stunning. It's just a stunning
NFL story and the saddest, the saddest story
of this off, season by far. It's no comparison. It's just,
it's on another level. And I do want to say, though, and when
people talk about him as a great person, he was more than
a football player.
He was
But he was really, he had a lot of ability as a football
player, you know, it would be a mistake to think that,
you know, he was a guy who Washington drafted and they
moved on and he was just going to become some journeyman.
I don't believe that
I saw him. You know, I'm a Buckeyes fan. I saw him in
college. I know what kind of ability he has the big 10 of
record-setting quarterback. He threw 50 50,
touchdown passes
his last year at Ohio State.
Yes, he was surrounded by
great teammates, but he made those great teammates
look better. And he went to I think the perfect organization
to kind of rehabilitate his career. I believe that Dwayne
Haskins
was going to do, some
was going to do some great things. Either with Pittsburgh
or going to use Pittsburgh to launch him to his next. His
next time we both
and be a we both celebrated that when we first when he
first signed with Pittsburgh,
was it January 21, he didn't.
A last year
playing much last year, but I remember. We both were like,
oh, wow there was ever a place for him to go and get his
career on track. It was going to be Pittsburgh.
Yeah, you know, and I think also,
and I was saying this earlier today, you know, sometimes in
these situations.
What the family wants to hear.
And what friends want to hear is just what you said earlier.
Mike,
you know, thoughts prayers,
thoughts, and prayers with you
with thinking about you.
We feel this loss. We feel it. And we know, we can't even
begin to describe or imagine what you're going through.
Sometimes. That's all you got to say.
And in these cases, sometimes people just go
a little bit too far. They say too much and they're trying to,
you know,
I don't know, maybe that great intentions in some cases or
thought listeners in some cases.
Sometimes the distance. There's not a lot to say Beyond how
heartbreaking it is. And if you find yourself, if you find
yourself going down that path,
maybe you're going too far.
Well, honestly, that's all I want to say about it. I'm going
to take my own advice and say less and I appreciate you
stopping there because I think way too much oxygen was given
to the sidebar.
Yeah, and the sidebar became the main story at a certain point
and it should not have
not given it any more attention than it is Irv's.
But
there was a larger takeaway
about the humanization or dehumanization of athletes,
which I think
that's where that's where talking about in general from
this standpoint
because, you know, like the phrase like more than
an athlete. I don't know who first started saying it might have
been LeBron or you know, but it's usually assigned to
an athlete
who achieves a level of professional success. Us.
And then parlays at success
into
business opportunities, or media opportunities or, you
know, wants to become a Storyteller like
somebody that can that can do more than just that that can be
put into a box. It's not going to shut up in trouble. Right?
Right.
I don't think that we often time, often enough. Excuse me.
look at
Athletes. Who have not?
Reached expectations or reach their full potential as more
than an athlete.
What I'm trying to say is
Even though the Wayne Haskins was not the franchise
quarterback that the Washington football team, drafted him to
be
and even though he was a backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It doesn't mean that he did not have a significance.
And successful
stay
in the NFL.
And like I said, I'll top do the most with this 24 years in
this life.
Like
he was more than an athlete by virtue of Simply being the best
version of him
that he could be.
He was more than an athlete simply by starting to figure
life out, starting to kind of get this
get himself together, like figure out, what do you want to
do at age 25, which how many of us know what we're doing? At
24? 25 years old. So he was more than an athlete even if he
wasn't.
You know,
a highly successful, a prolific athlete.
The point is that all these guys are more than athletes and
all these guys and and women are people first and foremost
and just by being a good person,
just by touching teammates.
Just by I mean the impact that he made on the Steelers
organization based on their statements based on what TJ W
and Mike Tomlin and Chase Claypool
and Ben Roethlisberger wrote,
right? Just being in the room.
Was enough for him to make an impact like these people's
impact should not be limited to their yards and touchdown
passes,
you know, like this, dude was somebody
to a lot of people.
So he was more than an athlete
and it was a, there's a life. Well, lived here
that affected other lives in such a short period of time.
So as like, I shouldn't be limited more than athletes.
Should not just be limited to the people. Doing it big like
he was doing his thing
and who knows what else he was going to do.
And I think it would behoove all of us
fans journalist, everybody
to look at even the so-called journeyman athletes
as more than an athlete
and not Polly Define them by their successes or failures
between the lines,
you know,
yeah, I think I think that is something to remember
especially this time of year. No Mike. We're going to be
going out to
Las Vegas for the NFL draft and I think that's part of that's
part of conversation. See
Dwayne Haskins first-round pick
for Washington. And so since he didn't become the franchise
player in Washington,
it's guys like that.
Who To your point who usually bear the brunt of it, who get
the brunt of that criticism, who are totally dismissed
as people. He's just the bus.
That's all that's what is notice is a bust and focus on
the draft status. So I think I think for the most part we do
a pretty good job of if we don't have high expectations,
so if it's somebody who was a third-round pick
and didn't make it 14,
Okay, fine. We're not
scrutiny on them. We're not saying. Oh man, you're supposed
to make it you were third round pick but first round pick
quarterback,
no top half of the first round and look at it, didn't work
out. So that really becomes the storyline and we do that in all
sports.
So it's good to remember at this time of year, right before
the draft, if the
if the can't miss prospects, does it make it?
You know, let's not go too far because we do it all the time
and I appreciate Stephen holder saying that he has fallen
short. We all have
we do that. It's just a natural thing. That sports fans. Do
we talk about somebody? We go back to
All-Star status draft status, what they were supposed to be,
who we think they are and that was generally drives
a conversation.
Okay, but not but now will acknowledge the
Controversy for lack of a better phrase with weekend,
Stephen holders, tweet and a lot of the conversation around
the dehumanization of athletes was in response to an extreme
example of the humanization.
Most of us have enough human instinct. Most of us are human
being enough to not
reference, somebody's professional struggles
when they died tragically.
And that's all I'll say about that.
What I will say though
is I think it's a life lesson here though,
and I and you. And I like to pull as many life lessons as
possible from Stories.
Because at the end of the day, these are people is a human
beings who just happen to have a high-profile occupation.
Just how we define success.
And life in general.
We define success, often times monetarily.
We Define it through the prism of accolades. We Define it
through the prism of your house, your car, how many
people know you
your follower count?
We Define it through
Prestige.
We Define it, through
all sorts of material things. Some people are, you know, some
people like hey, you know,
I got my health. What more could I ask for, you know,
folks can't complain, right? But ultimately like
a successful life and a life well-lived is often times.
View through tangible
means.
Dwayne Haskins,
I mean, first of all, you know, your first round pick,
In the NFL
you're already a success regardless of what happens
after that. So like make no mistake about what I'm saying.
Like there's a small fraction of people who could ever get to
where he got. He's an NFL player,
but in terms of, but relatively speaking
relatively speaking,
I think most people would not classify
his career relative to expectations Michael
to your point as a success. What I'm saying is
The dude had people who loved him
today. He's got people
who mourn him.
Nothing else matters in life.
That's a legacy because there are people has got a lot of
a lot of money, a lot of awards,
you know, a lot of Fame.
But do people like being around them. Do they make them smile
to people remember their personality people? Remember
how they treated them know,
now from a football standpoint. I do want to point this out and
I know this is speaking your language. This is just, this is
from a excerpt, from
a great article in the athletic.
And it said,
what is not up for debate is the impact Haskins had at Ohio
State. In the Legacy left behind in Columbus. He is
simply one of the more transformative players in
the history of the program.
In 2018 is loan season as Ohio. State starting quarterback
has consent 28 program in seven Big 10 records, while throwing
for 4831 yards and 50 touchdowns. His name appears 92
times in the OSU record book.
He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting that year
while winning conference.
Offensive player and quarterback of the Year Awards
following That season, the program had six 400-yard
passing games in its history, Haskins Haskins was responsible
for five of them
in accomplishing. All of that. He changed the perception of
the game's most important position at one of the Sport's
Premier programs.
Haskins Play That season set. Our course, for a new direction
of the Buckeyes offense. One more quarterback Centric and
passing Focus that made Ohio State a destination for the top
talent at the position again.
Not to keep referencing
the ugly
moment from the weekend.
But I'll be damned. If this dude,
didn't hit. It big as a football player.
The irony of a lot of the conversation. Unfortunately,
around him was what he didn't do in the NFL.
This dude change the course of a program.
This dude changed lives for the better not just in terms of
their interactions with him, but in terms of
what he's made on high. Oh, so he's made Ohio State. A lot of
money made a lot of money when he was there, made him a lot of
money after the fact, he has paid the way and blazed a path
for the people to follow him
at Ohio State University.
Ohio State University, I beg your pardon Michael Holland.
Thanks. So his legacy on the field and off the field
and it certainly includes some missteps.
All of us
have have missed ever had that missteps. Along the way have
hit bumps in the road. But what is what was unmistakable
from watching the response
and I guess I guess it hit me so hard Michael because
I didn't know it.
Because again, I would never reduce
especially. At the time of his
untimely demise, I would never reduce
a player
to what he did, what he didn't do in professional football
or Professor or an Athletics.
I'm just not wired that way. Most of us human beings
are typically wired that way,
but
I got to admit that, I didn't know that the Wayne Haskins was
this beloved?
Yeah, it may be because I just because we didn't talk about
that much because he wasn't, you know, a pro-bowl
quarterback. He wasn't a starting quarterback anymore.
I didn't know how many people
love this dude.
It's in how many people were touched by him? And that is so
inspirational.
And I, you know, I pray for the peace that transcends
understanding for his family, his loved ones, and his
teammates, but that's what got me this weekend is all
the people who he touched in such a short period of time.
On this Earth and in this league.
Unbelievable. Yeah,
inspirational is the right word for it.
And that writer for the athletic
very astute, astute observation
talking about how transformative he was. Look if there's no
you look at Ohio State's quarterback situation right now.
They got a first-round pick.
He's got to be a first round pick in the league.
Justin Fields first-round pick
in the League's when Haskins first-round pick.
Look, it wasn't always like that.
That if somebody was asking me
last year. Hey, who's the, who's the most successful
quarterback to come out of Ohio State, and I was like, maybe
art sleep. Stir It Like 1990 the 1980s.
It's, it was never that.
You know, Woody Hayes three yards and a cloud of dust.
And even when it got beyond that three yards and a cloud of
dust. There's still some quarterbacks.
I see you, Kurt Herbstreit. As I see, Troy Smith is still some
quarterbacks who were who are good for the program.
All right, Mike Tom zarek.
His predecessor. I mean
good for the program
but not necessarily
seen as first round Talent. So, yeah. Yeah, there are a lot of
think you're
a politically and personally there's a lot
that he brought to his very short life. And the last thing
I'll say is
for those who want to really stand in judgment. What do you
think people will say about you? What do you want them to
say about you? What will they say about it right now?
If it's over for you,
how many lives have you touched and what will people say about
your contributions to society?
Yeah, man.
Good time for some housekeeping for everybody.
Who's a baby.
He was just getting started. That's the one of his friends
told me. He was just starting to figure it out.